Being a huge fan of the PS2 science fantasy RPG upon which this anime is based, I was apprehensive about the Tales of the Abyss adaptation, thinking it could well suffer a mediocre remake. However, I am delighted to say the anime is already shaping up to be one of astonishing quality.
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Most would agree this lady is one of the more convincing Ivy cosplayers, if not the physical embodiment of Soul Calibur’s top heavy whip wielding dominatrix.
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Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion seems to be departing from its normal aesthetic with the addition of this Alisa Boskonovitch costume (her name is rather unfortunately rendered into Japanese with the ‘v’ becoming a ‘b’). Just who is she cosplaying?
You can see from some of the other images that Tekken 6 is shaping up to be Soul Calibur IV all over again… Expect schoolgirl costumes aplenty.
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Here we uncover the secrets of lost idols, with a look at the early history of Idol Master, known in those ancient times as “Idol Game”, and discover that not only have there been some interesting changes, but also that several idols were lost along the way…
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You can forget about merely being able to knock the “armour” off of the characters in Soul Calibur IV; it appears in fact you can force them (even ones possessing such improbable pantomime figures as Ivy) into battle in their very underwear, or in at least one case, completely naked.
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Two interesting pieces of news emerge about the imminent Soul Calibur IV; firstly, it is confirmed that noted Mai-Otome character designer 久行宏和 / Hirokazu Hisayuki has designed one of the extra characters, above, looking to be another supernaturally inclined character, an oni if I’m not mistaken.
The next piece of news is rather more speculative: we have a report that the extra characters will take the form of pricey downloadable content, though this is still very much unconfirmed.
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Some actual screens of the Tales of the Abyss anime have emerged, and information on the next two Tales game titles also emerges, though as both are for portables you will have to forgive a lack of enthusiasm on my part. Tales of Hearts will be released on the Nintendo DS in the winter, and on the PSP there is Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, also due in the winter.
See below for the most ill advised character art in recent memory – Tales of Hearts truly has a do not want ambience to it.
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Fanatical Tales of the Abyss fans, such as myself, can rejoice with the knowledge that the anime is not far off; the Sunrise handled production will air in October.
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With the release of Tales of Vesperia imminent in August, for the Xbox360 at least, and the demo version already available for download, more details have emerged: Famitsu has a large number of gorgeous screenshots (the content is gorgeous at least, the screens themselves are the usual pathetically low res and over compressed little things we have come to expect from Famitsu) showing off new elfy character Judith, above, looking very appealing indeed.
The official site has also been updated with her info. All looking very promising.
I will omit the usual grumbling about the PS3 version not being announced yet. When?
It seems that unofficial confirmation of a Tales of the Abyss anime is forthcoming by way of a mention of the title in an anime producer’s portfolio of products worked on. Apparently the production staff has already been settled up to episode 7, so an official announcement can’t be that far away. Other details are still lacking. Moon Phase thinks this can serve as reliable confirmation, and Moon Phase certainly qualifies as a reliable source for such matters.
As an aside, the same source reveals the progress of a new Inuyasha title, although details on this are even scarcer.
I can’t help but be enthused by this news, since Tales of the Abyss probably ranks as my favourite console RPG; hopefully they will do it justice. Looking forward to seeing some more of Anise and Ion, and all the others…
Tales fans, at least the few who own an Xbox360, can rejoice with the knowledge that Namco has officially announced the Japanese release as being August 7th, with an expected price of ¥7,800. The game has been designed with full internationalisation in mind (so forget about a Japanese dub), with an English language version set to follow shortly. No word on the PS3 release, of course.
